Jen was born in Orange, California, the youngest in what she lovingly describes as a mixed bag of half-siblings. Her early years were filled with soccer games, school activities, and endless beach days. She still smiles when she remembers hopping on a bus barefoot to head to the beach, something that feels like a different era now, but a perfect snapshot of a carefree Southern California early childhood.

Her family relocated to Arizona during her early teenage years when her dad was transferred with Boeing. There were frequent family debates about the air conditioning, and while Jen never fully adapted to the desert heat, she built lifelong friendships, participated in student leadership, played basketball, and worked hard both in and out of school. Looking back, she credits those years with teaching her resilience and independence, qualities that would serve her well later in life.

She attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where she majored in Communication and double minored in Political Science and English, all while working at a bank. Jen proudly identifies as an NAU Lumberjack to this day and remains deeply involved through the San Diego Leadership Council for NAU alumni, helping organize two to three events each year. Community, she says, has always been a constant thread in her life.

By the time she graduated, her parents had left Arizona, and Jen was determined to return to Southern California. With strong friendships pulling her west and a longing to trade desert heat for ocean air, she made her way to San Diego.

Jen earned her ABA Paralegal Certificate with an emphasis in Real Estate and Corporate Law from the University of San Diego. Striving for that quintessential 20-something SoCal lifestyle, she bounced from Mission Beach to Pacific Beach to La Jolla, fully embracing coastal living. Although she once considered law school, she was already immersed in the legal field and, guided by thoughtful mentors, chose to build her career through experience rather than take on additional debt.

She landed at McCormick and Mitchell, an insurance defense law firm, where she met John McCormick. John was instrumental in mentoring her in the building blocks of the industry and remained a critical part of her story until his recent passing. Jen was grateful to celebrate John’s life, legacy, and old-school humor with his longtime colleagues, family, and friends. During her tenure there, she grew tremendously and, by age 25, purchased her first home, a milestone she is incredibly proud of.

From there, Jen joined a friend from the firm who owned his own adjusting and investigations company. It was here that she transitioned from paralegal work into the world of insurance adjusting and investigation. Construction defect triggers, liability coverage issues, and investigative work quickly became her specialty. During this time, she also met Wendy McBride, another meaningful mentor and friend who helped shape her personal and professional confidence.

Next came Sam Hooper and Associates, a minority-owned firm based in Cerritos with a San Diego branch. Jen helped revive a struggling office, eventually serving as Branch Manager and later Vice President of Claims and Operations. She dove deeper into construction defect coverage investigations, liability, and property claims. More importantly, she reflects that Sam entered her life at a critical time when she was balancing motherhood and career. They genuinely needed each other professionally, and Jen speaks warmly about the trusted friendship and mutual admiration they built over the years.

Curious to expand her investigative skills, Jen briefly worked at the City Attorney’s Office. While the work was exhilarating, it no longer aligned with the work-life balance she needed as her family grew. She returned to Sam Hooper and Associates for a reset, demonstrating once again that career paths are rarely linear.

CorVel then offered her the opportunity to work with high-profile companies like SpaceX and Sprouts as a Senior Adjuster. Many of her clients were self-insured, which gave her close exposure to Risk Managers. It was during this time that Jen realized her future belonged on the risk management side of the table. She found herself drawn not just to resolving losses, but to preventing them.

Around that same period, life tested Jen in extraordinary ways. As a young mom navigating a difficult divorce, moving homes, battling both a brain tumor and melanoma, and facing mass layoffs during the housing crisis, she encountered more than most people experience in a lifetime. Yet Jen speaks about that chapter with gratitude and perspective. One of her favorite phrases, especially during challenging times, comes from Finding Nemo: “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.” She laughs that it may sound silly, but to her it perfectly captures perseverance.

What she emphasizes most about that chapter, though, is not the hardship, but the extraordinary support that surrounded her. She is deeply grateful for the friends, neighbors, family members, mentors, and colleagues who stepped in during every season, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Their encouragement, practical help, and unwavering belief in her carried her forward. And perhaps most of all, her two boys gave her the daily motivation to persevere and create stability, even when circumstances felt anything but stable.

Today, Jen serves as Risk and Insurance Manager at Link Logistics, one of the largest operators of industrial real estate and warehouse properties in the country. For the past four years, she has overseen risk and loss management across commercial and business park sectors, collaborating closely with property teams to improve safety outcomes. She is especially proud of a lithium battery management program she implemented after identifying an emerging risk with troubling fire loss exposure. Since launching the program, there have been zero lithium battery-related fire losses, a tangible example of proactive risk management at its best.

Jen has been a member of San Diego RIMS since 2010 and is now in her first year as Director at Large on the Board. She describes the group as an impressively dialed-in board and values the opportunity to learn from seasoned leaders while paying it forward as she grows into larger roles.

When she is not working or volunteering, Jen’s greatest pride and  joy is being a mom to her two impressive sons. Ryan, 29, works in social media sports marketing and recently gave Jen her first grandbaby, Lyla. Carson, 22, graduated magna cum laude from TCU with a double major in just three years and is about to begin law school at USD on a full scholarship.

These days, Jen feels grounded and grateful. Healthy, balanced, and deeply connected to her community, she embraces the life she has built. She loves reading biographies, traveling, and is especially excited about an upcoming trip to what she calls a bougie cowgirl dude ranch in Montana. She has traveled internationally, considers herself a golfer with a smile, and loves paddleboarding with friends. Long workout walks and hikes through Torrey Pines and Point Loma serve as moving meditations and daily reminders of how fortunate she is to live where she does. Staying active helps her release stress, reflect, and maintain perspective.

Whether it is wine dates and front-yard happy hours with neighbors, involvement in school and community organizations, or cheering passionately for the Padres, Jen finds energy in connection.

Jen does not know exactly what the future holds, but she knows this: she is happy where she is, proud of the balance she has built, and grateful for the resilience and the people who carried her through it.

And if life throws another curveball, she will just keep swimming.